Epic Climb for Epilepsy awareness team set to hike in Uxbridge Sunday

Preparations continue for Oct. 5 climb of the Grand Canyon

UXBRIDGE -- It’s not your typical awareness campaign, but just imagine it’s 5:30 a.m., you’re standing on the south rim of the Grand Canyon and you can’t help but be humbled by the quiet power.

Counted among the natural Seven Wonders of the World, the Grand Canyon is the site where, on Oct. 5, volunteers will conquer and attempt to erase the stigma associated with epilepsy.

For the time being, however, training for the climb continues.

On Sunday at 8 a.m., the Epic Climb for Epilepsy team, along with Township of Uxbridge council members, will hike the Countryside Preserve Trail in Uxbridge. The team will meet at the Tim Hortons parking lot at 325 Toronto St. at 7:45 a.m. and depart at 8 a.m. sharp.

“It is now time to raise awareness to a new level,” says Alex Shiels, mother of seven-year-old Cameron, the Epic Climb for Epilepsy awareness ambassador. “Our son is now seizure free after having brain surgery, but his journey is far from over. Epilepsy Durham Region has been with us every step of the way.”

At this fall’s Epic Climb, the team will hike 4,500 feet in 12 hours, a height that measures about two-and-a-half times that of the CN Tower in Toronto.